Kurdish militants kidnap Turkish MP
A migratory bird found in a field in a Turkish village triggered suspicions that it was a spy for Israel because its nostrils were unusually large.
Turkish Republican People's Party parliamentarian has been kidnapped by members of militant group the Kurdistan Worker's Party, Reuters reports, in another indication of the unrest that has gripped Turkey in recent months.
Huseyin Aygun, a Kurdish politician, was abducted near the city of Tuncelli as he traveled onwards to Ovacik – and the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) have yet to speak up about his whereabouts, reports the BBC.
AP reports that this is the first time a lawmaker has been kidnapped by a terrorist group in Turkey, a worrisome indication of how far the violence has gone. There's also concerns the PKK rebels could take advantage of the discord in neighboring Syria.
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The PKK has called for autonomy for the often beleaguered Kurdish minority group since 1984, and according to Reuters, the organization classified as a terrorist group by the EU and the USA, as well as Turkey.
Yesterday, the Turkish army called off a three-week-long assault against PKK positions in Semdinli, an area of the nation that borders Iraq and Iran, reported Reuters. A "large number" of separatist fighters were killed in the battle.
Al Jazeera reported today that "control of large parts of Syria's northeast is now in the hands of the Democratic Union Party, the main Kurdish party in the region."